HOUSTON — As ESPN's Longhorn Network commemorates its first anniversary today and prepares to televise Texas' first two football games of 2012, the company's distribution chief says talks are continuing with cable and satellite groups — and that it took four years for other ESPN properties to reach “critical mass” in audience availability.

David Preschlack, ESPN's senior vice president for affiliate sales and marketing, said despite suggestions to the contrary, ESPN is talking “to everybody,” including Time Warner Cable and Comcast, on adding the UT sports-devoted channel.

He also indicated that the company will continue to hold a firm line regarding pricing and levels of distribution and that ESPN wants any deals with major distributors to be “in line” with deals already in place with smaller carriers.

“We're happy that we have the distribution that we have, but we're clearly not satisfied,” Preschlack said. “These things take time. It took four years to get ESPN3 and ESPNU to critical mass. I'm not telling you it will take four years to get to critical mass for LHN."

Preschlack referred to “mischaracterizations” that talks regarding LHN were not ongoing and added, “We're talking to everybody, including Time Warner and all the big players. ... There is nothing more important that I'm working on.”

LHN's deals with smaller carriers such as Grande Communications and its one national carrier, Verizon FiOS, include LHN in their digital basic or expanded basic tiers.

Larger carriers are believed to be willing to offer the network on sports packages, which have much smaller distribution levels, but ESPN prefers wider availability.

Preschlack said he would not comment on “the level of negotiations” with any carrier.

“The product is great, and if not for LHN, 90 percent of it would not be able to be seen,” he said. “I understand we have some work to do, and when we get to the end, we will be providing a tremendous service to Longhorns.”

Longhorn Network, a 20-year, $300 million partnership between ESPN and UT, debuted on Aug. 26, 2011, with availability in about four million households. The channel will air UT's season opener against Wyoming on Sept. 1 and its Sept. 8 game vs. New Mexico.